Beijing’s recent behavior in the Arctic has triggered some alarms in the Pentagon.
A submarine breaks through ice in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's north coast. By Dan Lamothe Dan Lamothe Reporter covering the Pentagon and the U.S. military Email Bio Follow March 15 at 7:30 AM The Trump administration is drafting a new Arctic defense strategy focusing heavily on competition with China, whose expansion around the world has drawn increasing scrutiny from senior U.S. officials.
The discussions come as U.S. defense officials increasingly turn their eyes north, noting how the receding polar sea ice is opening new paths for sea vessels. In recent months, the Pentagon sailed an aircraft carrier above the Arctic Circle for the first time in decades, added more fighter jets to Alaska and made plans to add Navy P-8s, submarine-hunting reconnaissance planes, in Iceland.
“It’s kind of like, ‘We don’t want to talk about the science, but we know the conditions have changed,’” said Sherri Goodman, who studies Arctic issues and focused on environmental issues in the Clinton administration. “I definitely could see them taking that approach in these documents, too.” China’s recent behavior in the Arctic has triggered some alarms in the Pentagon. Last year, it declared itself a “near-Arctic nation,” an effort to inject Beijing into Arctic discussions and defend its desire for a “Polar Silk Road,” in which Chinese goods would be delivered by sea from Asia to Europe.
Jim Townsend, a senior defense official during the Obama administration who focused on European and Arctic issues, said that “everyone is looking at China and how aggressive they are.” Last year, Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer told the Senate Armed Services Committee that changing conditions had prompted the service to launch a new review.
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